Hiii!~ I've recently decided to write a story about my betta, Galaxy, and his life. I figured I should post it here and maybe get some feedback. Sooo, here's the first chapter - although it's more of a prologue, really. And I apologize that it's so long - I need to work on shortening them a bit.

I knew that this would be interesting the very first moment I laid eyes on the girl. And boy, was I correct.
I’m Galaxy. Gorgeous plakat male betta, and quite easily my humans favorite fish. How do I know? Simply because I say so. And well, I have a story to tell.~

Everything started the first day I arrived in the big white building. My breeder had scooped me out of my nice warm tank with a horrible green mesh and placed me in a jar away from my brothers and sisters. I picked out a few choice words for her and spat them out as I flared at her, but of course she didn’t even take them into consideration. Anyways, she took me and a few other fish, some I recognized from the tank I had grown up in, and placed me in the back of a big, silver box waiting noisily in front of her building. After she brought more and more jars, she finally closed the box with a sad smile and a wave, and then I was off.
I remember being in the box for only a short while. I only had time to flirt with a pretty female with a crowned tail and argue with a not-as-amazing-as-me male double tail before the box stopped vibrating and roaring and was opened once more. This was by a different person – I didn’t recognize him – and he stroked the furry patch below his nose while he picked up some jars and halfheartedly placed them in yet another box – this one brown and dirty.
I decided I didn’t like him when he grabbed my jar and practically tossed it into the box. I frantically flailed around as he grabbed the male I had just been fighting with, and I took notice to how he looked just as frantic as I felt. I swam in a circle and took a few frightened breaths before I felt the dirty box being lifted away.
And then I was inside the building. I didn’t know what it was, but as I peered out from the top of my jar – being stacked on the top as it was, probably to show off my awesomeness – I noticed a lot of people. They were all inspecting things stacked on various shelves, and I recognized a bird in a cage and a photo of a cat on a bag as we advanced further into this strange place.
A door was abruptly jerked open, sending my and all the others water splashing about in the jars, and the man set the box down on something similar to what my tank had been resting on. I thought we were finally done, but boy, I was wrong. In fact, I was the first to experience what came next.
The man grabbed my jar and jerked the lid open. I puffed out my gills and flailed at him so he knew that he was being to harsh, but I didn’t even get to complain before the jar was tipped upside-down and I was being poured into a little cup below me. I shook myself, battered, and slowly tested my fins and gills out. Thankfully, everything was still working. The man made a noise and put a lid on the cup, held it in the air as if to inspect me, then placed a small, circular object on the cup right in front of my face. I looked at it in disgust as the man handed me to someone else who I hadn’t noticed before, and then I was being carried back out into the strange white room. I looked around when I was placed on a metal rack and then proceeded to dance for some food, but I ended up disappointed when I swam to the bottom of the cup and came back up to the person who had brought me to the rack walking away.
After a short while, all the excitement was over – everyone who had arrived in the box with me was now in his or her own cup sitting on a rack. I had complained at the girl who carried us to the racks often enough – how dare she place the females on a rack separate from us males! And I remember being finally fed a funny tasting flaky object, and then I was left in my cup to entertain myself. I tried to blow a bubble nest, but quickly gave that up when I remembered there were no females here to witness it, and then I tried flaring at my reflection. That was no fun either, and I suddenly wished I was back in the heated, planted tank I had grown up in where there was at least a few things to play with and other fish to poke at.
I remember people passing by me in the few hours I was there – quite a few of them, actually. However, much to my dismay, they either just passed by with a quick look to all of us, with maybe a complement thrown here and there, or – the nerve of these people! – chose other betta’s. I threw quite a few choice words in their direction, especially to the young boy who made off that male whom I argued with in the silver box. After a while, I was getting pretty sick of this nonsense – and that’s when she showed up.
A pair of humans, one slightly shorter than the other, waltzed right into the solid white store – or so I’d heard another betta call it – and came right over to the betta’s. The taller of the two scoped out the females, and the younger girl came up to us males. I was excited – no one else who had looked at us came to the racks with such purpose, and I thought perhaps they would get me out of here.
I was right. But I remember thinking I was wrong. In fact, I was quite mad at the younger girl – she had passed right by me and was holding a cup containing a violet butterfly plakat. I shouted at her as she showed him to the other. “How dare you! My fins are just as nice as that male’s, and I have better colors!” As I raged on, I hardly noticed that she had set the other cup back down and was now inspecting the shelves closer to me. “Yes! Yes, here! Choose me, please!” I danced around my cup, showing my fins and puffing my gills. It seemed to get her attention, for after glancing at me she bent down to have a closer look.
I peered back at her as she pressed her eyes to my cup. I liked how the girl looked – the curious and friendly eyes that peered at me from behind the glass she had over them reminded me of the human who had taken care of me and my siblings when I was growing up. I continued to dance, and she finally picked me up with a smile.
“Look at this one, mom,” I heard her say. “He’s got such nice colors! And he’s enthusiastic.” The taller human walked over and inspected me. “He’s cute. But what’s with his scales? They look big. And aren’t his fins a bit short?”
I gasped at her ignorance and turned to the one holding my cup. Flaring my gills out, I looked back at the one who made such a rude remark and then back again. I heard the short one giggle and say, “He didn’t like that. Anyways, his scales are supposed to be big and shiny like that – he’s a dragonscale. And plakats always have shorter fins.” The other human shrugged and glanced at the smaller girl. “I know that look. You don’t have anywhere to put another male, Sierra. And besides, he’s fifteen dollars!”
The girl apparently called Sierra pouted. “So? I have a spare tank in the closet. Remember I bought another just like Ruka’s tank? I can just set that up next to Ruka.” I danced around excitedly – if I heard that right, then the girl wanted me! I shouted at the taller one to agree with her while she mulled it over. “Alright, fine. But you’re paying for him, and if your dad flips I’m not dealing with it.”
And then I was in Sierra’s lap, excitedly flailing at her while the taller human operated the strangely shaped box we were inside. At the moment, I didn’t care that I might have to compete with another fish called Ruka – I was just happy I was going home.

So, yeah. ^o^ Hope you enjoyed!~ Will update with the next chapter soon.

I don’t remember exactly how long I was in Sierra’s lap, riding along in the noisy white box that the taller human, who I supposed was called Mom, seemed to be operating. I just remember stopping, and my cup being briefly sat down next to Sierra as she poked at something shiny next to her on the seat that made a clicking noise. Then I was being carefully carried towards a door, and I danced around excitedly once more.
I was greeted with a strong scent of cinnamon spice as the door was pushed open and I was carried into a long, grayish building with a fluffy looking floor and a few things hanging on the walls. I glanced around, and then turned to the girl as she navigated us through the house. “Is this our home? Why does it smell so spicy? Where is my tank? I do have a tank, right?” But she answered none of my questions and simply continued walking. She quickly turned to her left and then sky blue walls and decorations in every color imaginable surrounded me.
She smiled and said something to me when she set me down on a tan-brown piece of décor. “Stay here for a bit, okay, Galaxy? I’ll get your tank ready.~” I stared after her as she left the room. “Who’s Galaxy? Is that me?”
“Of course it’s you! Who else would it be?” I whipped around to see where the pretty voice had come from, and was shocked to see another betta swimming gracefully across a small tank with colorful gravel and a big plant. She came up to meet me at the glass and continued, “Must be new around here, hm? I’ve never seen you around. Anyways, I’m Ruka. Nice to meet you, yes?”
I nodded absently. “Yes, yes.” The female wasn’t the most colorful – her body was a deep brownish red color with a blue shine and her fins had a few blue streaks on them. But her face was very pretty, her fins were shaped perfectly, and not to mention her stomach was swollen with eggs. She snickered as she noticed my glance and turned tail. “Ha, don’t even bother. I’m not interested.”
I flared my gills up at the female. Pretty or not, she had no right to be telling me off. But before I could begin shouting at her, I spotted Sierra return to the room. She was carrying a tank identical to the one Ruka was in, as well as some a bag of shiny, blue marbles and a nice plant. She set the tank down right next to Ruka’s and placed an airstone on the bottom, quickly attaching it to the airpump providing the female’s steady stream of bubbles. She then poured the marbles, which were wet as if freshly washed, over the stone and gently placed the plant in the corner. She turned back towards the door, but then slowly turned around again as she noticed me flaring. “Hey, boy, leave her alone. You can’t possibly be showing off already, can you?”
I heard a snooty giggle from Ruka as Sierra grabbed my cup and sat it across the table. I frowned – how terribly rude of her! - and began flailing against the side of the cup as the girl left the room once more. She returned quickly, though, with a jar of water. She poured it in the newly established tank, put in a few drops of liquid from a bottle sitting next to the other betta’s tank, and grabbed my cup. She smiled and placed it into the warm water, and then I was left floating there.
I wasn’t left in my cup for too long, though. After about thirty minutes of anxiously dancing against the plastic, eager to get into the water below, Sierra returned and gently opened the lid to my cup. She giggled as I excitedly poked my nose out of the water and slowly sank the cup into the tank. I darted out, and I saw her drop a few pellets and a bloodworm into the water after me before clicking on the lid.
I ate, and then I explored. Not that there was incredibly much to see – the tank was only about a gallon and a half, and the most interesting thing I found was a fancy looking crystal near the base of the plant. I decided to nip at it a bit, and then I heard that pretty voice again.
“Is that tasty, Galaxy?”
“Shut up.”
“No,” Ruka chided as I whipped around. She was watching me with an amused expression from her tank, and I puffed my gills out further with a huff. “Watch it, pretty girl. I have a nasty bite.”
That just seemed to make her more amused. “Oh, I’m sure you do,” she snickered, turning away from me. I frowned and returned to poking at my shiny rock.
Oh, this would be interesting indeed.

And another chapter, even though not many people seem to be reading this. XD

Chapter 2

The days went by, and my life was pretty good. My tank was always kept nice and warm despite being small and I was regularly fed, making this home a pretty great one for a little betta. I still had to put up with Ruka's snobbyness, though. The female was starting to get on my nerves - commenting on everything I did as if I was some sort of TV show and she was the one making it amusing to watch. It's not like I could do anything about it, though (what, did you think Sierra would listen if I asked her to move Ruka? She never listens to anything, that ignorant human), and after a while I learned to block out the constant snooty chatter that rang from the neighboring tank.
One afternoon, after Sierra had returned from her gathering she referred to as 'school' and while Ruka was being as cocky as ever, Sierra strode into my room and sat something - or some things - onto my table. As she walked out, I heard a few unfamiliar voices - a male with a voice lower pitched than mine muttered something I didn't catch and a flouncy female giggle responded. "Ruka! Why are they here?" I panicked, swimming to meet her at the glass.
And Ruka just giggled and flicked her tail. "Don't you know anything? Those are Sierras other bettas. She brings them in here when she cleans out their tanks. Which means we're getting a water change today, yes?" I blinked in confusion. "Water change? Whats wrong with the water we've got?" But the pretty, eggy female just swam to the top of the tank and took a breath of air, her fins waving.
I muttered to myself. "Why does she have to be so pretty? The girl is annoying as a bird when it learns a new word, but I can't stop staring at her. Hmph! Get a hold of yourself, Galaxy."
And then Sierra returned to the room. She was carrying something green and meshy and two empty betta cups. I swam towards her, thinking she might have food with her, but was instantly proved wrong when she took the lid off of my tank and removed my plant. I felt the airstone under the marbles stop vibrating as she jerked something out of the wall behind me, and I knew something was wrong. I heard Ruka snort, and a couple of amused giggles from the betta cups as I darted around in panic.
"It's okay, Gal." Sierra spoke calmly as she removed the plant from Ruka's tank. "It will only be for a second." I watched in horror as she opened one of the cups and sunk it into the neighboring tank, filling it with water, and then stuck the meshy green thing into the tank - and Ruka swam right in! I darted around a few more times, watching out of the corner of my eye as Sierra lowered Ruka into the cup and sealed it shut, setting her next to the others.
I heard Sierra's low coo again as she addressed me by my much-used nickname. "Calm down, Gal. I just have to rinse your tank out for a bit, and then you'll be back in it. I'll even give you a bloodworm - won't that be nice? - and in the meantime you can meet the rest of our little family here." And then the green thing was in my tank, and I desperately glanced around for something to hide in. I settled with behind the now-cool heater and pressed myself against the glass in panic. Sierra huffed and dislodged the small heater while she filled the remaining cup with my water. "Galaxy the Plakat! Do you want to do this the easy or the hard way?" I puffed my gills up and screamed back at her, "I don't want to do this at all!" But I suppose I should have payed more attention, for while I was yelling my gills off the swooped the mesh underneath me and lifted me from the water. "No! Put me back!" I hopped around, but one of my fins got caught in the mesh and I had no choice but to lay still. And then I was lowered into the small cup and the lid sealed off the only path back to my home I had before I could even make a swim for it.
I panted and darted in a circle as Sierra placed me next to Ruka. The arrogant betta was laughing her tailfin off, and I quickly whipped around to face her. "Don't pretend you weren't scared when she first did this to you, female! You're not fearless and you know it." She looked taken aback as I turned my back on her and slowly inspected the bettas in the other cups. They were mostly females, although I caught the long fins of a Halfmoon male farther away from me.
I turned around in surprise as a gentle voice spoke. "It's Galaxy, right? Don't worry, we were all scared the first time. In fact, I remember your friend here being the worse." She eyed Ruka with a bemused glance. "You'll get the hang of it.
"Err, thanks..."
"Bleu." She finished my sentence for me. "My name is Bleu." I smiled and looked Bleu up and down. She was a small, petite little thing, with pale grey scales what had a nice blue sheen to them. Her belly wasn't quite as swolen as Ruka's, but her dark, blackish stripes ran completely vertical down her body.
I heard another voice coming from the other direction. It was light and flouncy, probably the source of the giggle I had heard respond to the other males voice earlier. As I turned around, a pretty, cream colored face peered at me from a neighboring cup. "I'm Scarlet," she purred, turning in a complete circle as if to show me her deep red fins. The cambodian Crowntail was very eggy - even more so than Ruka - and I wondered why she hadn't been bred yet.
"And she's mine." The deep male voice I had heard earlier sounded, and I whipped around to see a blue cambodian Veiltail puffing his gills at me. "And don't forget it." He slowly turned around, his fins nearly wrapping around him as he swam to the other side of the cup. Yet another betta spoke, and I noticed a deep green female staring after the Veiltail with an amused smile. "That's Lyric. He thinks he's the boss of us girls. Of course, we know better then to let him get to us - all of us except Scarlet, anyways. She'll flirt with any male she sets her eyes on, and Lyric thinks that means she's his just because she's the only one of us who doesn't swim off. I'm Emerald, by the way. Welcome to our home."
"Annnnd I'm Kryptonite!" An excited, high pitched male voice greeted me from a few cups away. "I like meeting people. Are you a male? You have short fins. But you sound like a male. Why were you scared of the net? That's the green thing. The net is fun. Yes, fun fun fun!" He darted from side to side, his greenish-blue and black scales shimmering as his Halfmoon tail flicked. I blinked and whispered to Bleu. "Should I be concerned about him?" And Bleu laughed. "No. He's pretty friendly, past all the excitement. Only male I've ever met who doesn't care if someone else looks at his girl." I shrugged and glanced around. Had I met everyone? No, there was one more - a dark blue female sulking near the bottom of her cup. Bleu followed my gaze and whispered, "That's Sapphira. She's been down ever since Scarlet joined our sorority and took her position as alpha. Still as healthy as ever, but she just isn't acting as boisterous as she used to. She-"
"Are you almost finished there?" Rukas familiar voice interrupted Bleu as she began another sentence. "Because Sierra's back with our tanks, Gal, so I think that means it's time to stop chatting with your little girlfriend so we can get back in our nice warm water. Unless you're going to freak and swim away from Sierra again?"
I scowled and glanced back at Bleu. "Will I see you again?" She nodded politely in response. "Probably!~'
And then my cup was floating in my tank. I eagerly tried to escape before remembering it wouldn't do much good, so I settled on listening to the idle conversation the others were making. I ran through each voice in my head again as I heard it - Scarlet, Lyric, Emerald, Kryptonite, Bleu. And I quickly remembered Sapphira, too - the dark blue female who had been sulking and hadn't spoken. And soon enough, Sierra came and released Ruka and I back into our rightful homes, and I watched as she lifted the tray of cups that held my friends and left the room.
I couldn't wait for the next water change.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.~ Means a lot, haha. And of course, new chapter. :3

Chapter 3

My life once again returned to normal after meeting the many other betta's owned by Sierra. In fact, I was getting quite bored. I couldn't very well build a bubble nest because of the slow current of bubbles that constantly flew from the air pump, and swimming in a small plant, chewing on a shiny rock, and eating pellets wasn't the most entertaining routine in the world. At least I could still talk to Ruka, although she was still as annoying as ever and sometimes I found myself liking chewing on the leaves of the soft plant more than talking to her.
I couldn't help missing Bleu. She was just as pretty as my neighbor and twice as likable. Of course, Sierra never listened to my requests for a water change, so I couldn't see her. Ruka seemed to take notice of my missing her, too, because I never heard the end of it.
"And that is Scarlet, who flirts with everyone she sees. Because she's the only one of us who ever does that, teehee."
"Shut up, female."
"Nope.~" Ruka snorts and flicks her tail. "Face it, Gal, you never stop talking about her. Bleu this, Bleu that. You're bringing it on yourself, bro."
I huff and turn away from her. "So what if I like her? Living next to you makes every female with halfway decent manners seem like a diamond." I hear Ruka gasp, but I don't care. I just swim up to the wall of the tank and present myself to Sierra, who tosses her school pouch on the floor and gives me a little bloodworm for my efforts in catching her attention. Ruka follows suit with the dancing, of course, and I frown at Sierra when she gets a bloodworm too.
"Don't give her anything! She's annoying," I pout. Ruka giggles, and Sierra just throws herself on the soft thing coated with thin sheets of more fluff supported by wood she has sitting next to our dresser - I think it was called a bed? Anyways, she stretches out and glances over at the little glass bowl she had recently placed beside Ruka's on the table. Inside was a sickly little tetra who claimed he had been smushed by a rock. Of course I pitied the little guy, although I wished Sierra would pay as much attention to me as she did him. I mean, she was always fussing around with medications and heat and the plants that sheltered him while Ruka and I were left entertaining ourselves. As I mulled this over, I heard Sierra muttering something to herself and I quickly whipped around to listen. "I need to change their water again tomorrow."
"Ohhh! Yay yay yay yay yay!" I squealed like a little fry who had just been promised an extra-special treat for being good during a tank cleaning. Ruka laughed her fins off, of course, but I didn't care. I would get to see Bleu! I puffed my gills up and circled myself in the tank, curling up on the big leaf I slept on. "Hurry up and be tomorrow!" And then I fell asleep despite the bright sunlight that still leaked through the curtain.
When I woke up, it was tomorrow, but not when I wanted it to be. Sierra was still curled up on her bed and Ruka was snoring softly in her tank beside me. I pouted and swam to the surface, looking for the pellets Sierra always dropped in sometime before she fell asleep. Sucking one into my mouth, I swam back to the bottom of the tank and poked at the shiny rock for the next few hours until finally Sierra came into the room with the tray of cups.
I was not at all hesitant to get into the net this time. In fact, I swam right in. Sierra giggled and lowered me into the cup. "That's better, Gal," she murmured, setting me next to the others. Ruka followed soon after, and then I was scanning the cups for any sign of the girl I was silently obsessing over. While I looked, however, I noticed there were a few more cups than I remembered last time, and I noticed a red and white delta male, a little blue marbled doubletail female, and a teeny, pinkish baby cowering in one side of his cup. Curious, I swam over to the female first, as she was closest to me. "Hi," I said. "Are you new here?"
She nodded silently. "I'm Luna," she whispered. Her voice was still very young and lightly pitched. "I'm Galaxy." I paused and glanced at the rest of the fish and decided I should introduce them too. Pointing to each betta with my tail in turn, I rolled off the names of the rest of the fish. "And that's Ruka, Sapphira, Emerald, Scarlet, Lyric, Kryptonite, and Bleu." Bleu! I wanted to talk to her, but curiosity got the best of me and I looked at the new male before facing her. He noticed my glance and puffed up his gills. "I'm Blitzen," he chided with a singsong voice in a rather challenging tone. I didn't feel like fighting, though, so I shrugged and left Scarlet to dance at him while Lyric told him off. "What about you?" I ask the little pink fry. "What's your name?"
The little betta shrinks down to the bottom of his cup as I address him, his eyes wide in fright. "S-Soren," he quivers in a high-pitched voice. My heart sinks as I look at him. The poor little guy is scared out of his wits, rather skinny, and doesn't look like he wants to be here at all. Before I can calm him, though, Bleu swims so she's as close to him as she can get in her cup and smiles. "Don't worry, Soren," she whispers comfortingly. "Everyone here is amazingly nice. You'll get the hang of everything, I promise. If you need anything, tell me, okay?"
Soren seems to brighten up a bit. "Okay. Thank you." He swims close to her cup and snuggles up by the wall. Bleu giggles and nuzzles him - or rather, nuzzles the side of her cup that's closest to him. I look at her, impressed. "Dang, girl. You calmed him right down. You'll make a good mom." She looks surprised, and well, for a moment I am too. Why did I was that? Stupid, stupid. I dart against the side of the cup and Bleu giggles. "No, it's fine, Galaxy. Don't hurt yourself." I huff and then laugh, for her sake. Then I swim to the top of my cup and blow a bubble, pleased that there's no current to interrupt me this time. Bleu smiles and dances for me, showing me her fins. Despite Ruka giggling, I like this moment. It's a great improvement from spending my days chewing on a rock.
It's over too soon, of course. Or at least, I thought it was. Sierra comes in and glances at us, noticing Bleu dancing for me and me blowing my bubbles. She looks thoughtful, and then instead of taking Ruka and I off the tray to be placed in our tanks again, she grabs Blitzen and Kryptonite. I watch in horror as Blitzen is floated in Ruka's tank and Kryptonite in mine, and then I'm being carried off.
Our tray is placed on an unfamiliar table in front of a huge tank. I watch as Sierra scoops some other fish of species I don't recognize from a bucket sitting in front of the tanks stand and lets them free into the tank. Bleu glances at me and whispers, "This is where I live." Then Sierra is plucking the females off of the tray and opening their cups to the tank. Scarlet, Sapphira, Luna, Emerald, and Ruka. "Ruka!" I call, concerned even though the female was rather annoying. She glances around, obviously confused, and darts behind some plants. I never hear her response before I'm carried across the room again. We're placed yet again on a table, this one grey and black marble, and I see another smaller tank next to us. Sierra scoops more fish from a yellow bucket next to the tank into her net and lets them free in the highly decorated tank, and then she grabs little Soren and opens his cup. He darts out and immediately hides in a small cave, and Sierra smiles softly.
Then we're next to another tank of similar size to Soren's, a slightly bigger tank with no gravel, and a vase that holds about as much water as the tank I had lived in before today. Lyric is slowly poured into the vase, and my cup is then grabbed. Sierra wrenches the lid off and slowly sinks me into the biggest tank, and as I swim out into the new terrain she turns to the other tank and scoops lots of small fish and some snails into it. Lastly, she grabs Bleu's cup and sets it in my tank so it floats near the top of the water. We glance at eachother, surprised, as our caretaker places half of a styrofoam cup in the tank near a couple of plants loosely floating in the tank.
Only then did I realize what Sierra meant to do.

Sooo, it's been a while :3 Actually, I completely forgot I was writing this. So, have some chapters. Like, three of them. I know I wrote a few, I just have to find them. cx

Chapter 4

The next few days were…weird, to say the least. Both Bleu and I knew exactly why were in this big new tank, and quite frankly it just got awkward at times. Of course, I built my bubble nest – why shouldn’t I, when I knew it was going to be used? I spent almost all of my time working on it – bubble, bubble, eat a pellet, chat with Bleu, bubble, bubble. It was only after Sierra went to sleep that I stopped for a while. Bleu and I danced with each other every night before we fell asleep. It was nice, despite the tense air – or well, water, between us. And after we finished dancing, Bleu curled up at the bottom of her cup and I blew a few more bubbles before I settled down to sleep as well.
This routine carried on for a few days – about three or something. On the fourth day, when my bubble nest was spilling out the sides of the cup and Bleu’s already dark vertical stripes were pitch black, Sierra let Bleu free into the tank. Again, it was weird – we spent most of that day just talking.
I could almost hear Ruka laughing her tail off at this. I mean, this is what I wanted, right? It was still awkward. But I liked it, because like the couple of water changes before this big ordeal, it was a great improvement from biting a shiny rock.
Anyways, the embracing started the night Bleu was released, right after Sierra went to bed. I won’t go into detail, because A. it’s rather awkward, like basically everything else I just told you, to write about, and B. I’m not entirely sure there’s any way to describe it fully. All I know is that it was amazing, and that’s really all I need to know anyways.
As soon as we were done we collected the eggs. Bleu was very gentle with them – she swam towards the pile near the bottom of our tank, gently scooped up a mouthful, then spat them into my bubble nest. I tried to follow her actions, but quite frankly, I sucked at it. So I settled on picking up one egg at a time so I didn’t hurt them.
Soon enough, there were little tails hanging from the nest. There were only a few, and they were microscopic, but they were there. I mentioned them to Bleu, and to this day I have no clue why I did. Of course she wanted to see them – why wouldn’t she? But I wouldn’t let her. I don’t know why, but I felt like it was my sole duty to protect this nest, and even though I knew in my heart Bleu wouldn’t hurt it my mind was telling me differently. So instead of showing her the tails, I bit her.
I still feel terrible. I bit her tail, and it ripped, and I could see the hurt in her eyes as she turned away from me. To make it worse, Sierra had seen the whole thing, and she took Bleu out of the tank so that she wouldn’t get hurt any further. I would never be able to apologize now. And I feel bad. Stupid, stupid! I should have just let her see the tails, it wouldn’t have hurt anything, and-
I was so busy slamming my head against the glass that I didn’t see what happened next. As Sierra was closing the lid of my tank with Bleu’s net in her hand, something – I still don’t know what it was, but it looked like a giant fluffy white rock with blue eyes – jumped up onto the table next to the tank. If that wasn’t bad enough, it stuck its furry arm into the tank and pushed at the Styrofoam cup holding my eggs.
Sierra hissed at the creature and swatted it away, but she wasn’t quick enough. The eggs, and worse, the little tails, sunk to the bottom of the tank with the cup. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what I could do. So I just watched as Sierra grabbed the cup and pulled it out.

Only three fries lived to be free swimming since the incident with the fluffy white creature. I’m still not sure how they survived – I had just left them at the bottom of the tank, since I doubted they were alright. But anyways, out of those three, only one lived past his first week. The other two, little girls by the sound of it, came down with Velvet and Sierra didn’t see it until it was too late. But my son, the only one who I had left, was strong. He never caught the disease in the first place, and was soon growing up to be a healthy young betta.
Sierra had called him Nemo. I don’t know what that means, but it had something to do with him resembling a clownfish or something. I went with it – after all, I would have called him Galaxy Jr. or something. Nemo was a good kid. He was shy and hated exposure to anything that wasn’t me, but once you calmed him down he was very curious and loving. In a sense, he was just like Soren.
Soren…the only thing that could calm that poor fry down was Bleu. And Bleu wasn’t here. She should be here. It’s my fault that she wasn’t, and it’s my fault that Nemo would never get to meet his mom. I tried not to think about it, and focused more on teaching Nemo how to survive to the best of my abilities.
I sucked at it, of course. All I could tell him was that you breathe from the surface and you eat food with your mouth and if I ever yell at Sierra don’t copy me. He didn’t ask questions, though, so he made it much easier.
Nemo had just developed his colors – he reminded me so much of Bleu, with his silver body and blue fins – when he got sick. It wasn’t a physical sickness, and quite frankly I really don’t know what went wrong. He just stopped eating, and when I asked him why he just responded by dashing to the other side of the tank.
I should have known something was wrong right then – Nemo wasn’t active. He never swam fast, probably because I never taught him how to. But I had just shrugged it off – I figured he was just being weird. I was wrong. I’d never been more wrong. Because when I woke up in the morning, Nemo wasn’t in the tank.
I had looked all over for him. In the plants, under a rock, I even asked the apple snail who’d been in the tank since the beginning if he ate him or something. I finally found him, but in all honesty I wish I never did. Because he was outside of the tank, dried up and barely clinging to life. He had jumped, and I knew it, and I still don’t know why. All I could do is stare at him as he glanced over at me, gasped something like ‘bye, daddy,’ then took his last breath.
I’m not good at this whole parenting thing.

It’s been a few months since Nemo died, and fish have come and gone. Little Soren was the first to go – the poor little thing just couldn’t hold on anymore. Sapphira had come down with Dropsy and Sierra had to euthanize her – I still had never heard the dark blue female’s voice before she was gone. Emerald was gone, as well – no one knows what went wrong. Scarlet choked on a pellet, and you might as well count Bleu as dead, too – she never forgave me for biting her when she wanted to see the nest.
However, there were lots of new faces too, and I liked them. There were the three sisters, Crayola the steel blue veiltail, Violet the purple and red veil, and Jasmine the turquoise girl. They all were about the same personality-wise as Scarlet was – flirty, but they were younger than she was so it really just came off as snobbyness. Then there was Kona, a little blue Cambodian crowntail girl who reminded me of Soren in a way. She was shy, but was really sweet and had basically everyone wrapped around her fin. Valentine was her sister who looked like a smaller version of Scarlet, but really acted more like Lyric – ready to pick a fight. Then there was Lyra, a little green crowntail with a singsong voice, and the bright red veiltail girl Strawberry who could have been Kryptonite’s sister in terms of personality. Truffle was a pretty pink-marbled veiltail who acted as Jasmine’s (who I guess was alpha now that Scarlet’s gone) second in command. Then Alice, a purple veil who was so outgoing I question how she wasn’t dead yet, Bella, a blue veiltail who always moped around just like Sapphira, and Rosalie who liked to keep to herself but was nice when you talked to her. And it turns out that Luna was actually a boy – I don’t know how any of us missed that, but her – his – name was Nightmare now.
Anyways, my life had returned to normal. I was back in Sierra’s room next to Ruka, although at least my tank had gotten an upgrade while I was gone. It was bigger, and now there were two plants and a colorful rock cave. I missed my shiny rock, though – turns out my life was a lot less boring when it was there to chew on.
Ruka was as weird as ever. She still liked to annoy me, and I had to put up with it. At least she kept me company, even if she drove me insane.
I remember how exited I was, though, when Sierra did water changes. Even though Bleu still probably hated my guts – and I don’t blame her – it was still a fun change in routine. In fact, Sierra was planning on changing our water today.
She is. The net is in my tank and I just swim in. She sets me in a cup, as usual, and then puts it among the others. I greet everyone, and Ruka follows suit.
We get caught up in an argument then, like always.
“So, Gal, are you gonna flip out at everyone again? ‘Ahh, people!’ You really are weird. But then again, it is funny watching you freak out when you see everyone. Actually, yes, freak out. Pretend you’ve never met anyone here again and go crazy.”
“Shut up, female.”
She giggles. “You still haven’t learned that I don’t shut up when you tell me to? You’re slow.”
I huff and take a gulp of air. “I know you don’t. I’m just hoping that you got abducted by that fluffy alien or something and then it put a clone of you in your tank instead, and then that clone is nicer than you or something.”
She stares at me, and then laughs. “Fluffy aliens don’t exist, idiot. Just go talk to your girlfriend or something before you start telling me that there are other humans besides Sierra and Mom.”
“Yes, they do! I saw one…Sierra! Ruka’s being stupid again, get her away from…”
Then I stop and absorb Ruka’s words. “Go talk to your girlfriend…” Bleu! Where is she? I still need to apologize, I haven’t apologized, and I feel bad, and…
“Hey, Kryptonite. Do you see Bleu? I want to talk to her.”
“Bleu?” he asks. “Ooh, yeah, your Bleu! The blue one. Sorry, but she’s gone. Something went wrong and her fins got torn up and then Sierra gave her salt but there was too much and she’s gone. Oh! But you can talk to Kona if you want. Kona is cute and little and really fun! Yep, fun fun fun! And…”
I toned out the hyper fish’s voice. Bleu can’t be gone. Not yet. No…

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